With a senior-laden squad and a renewed strategy on offense, the feeling around the Oshkosh West football team is that the tide may finally be rolling in the right direction.

Now it's all about execution.

The Wildcats boast an experienced team, with 24 seniors on the roster and 13 positions on offense and defense filled by starters from a year ago.

That experience has led to a great offseason and a solid first couple weeks of practice, according to coach Ken Levine.

"Out of those 24, most of them put in a lot of work in the offseason, and they really care about what's going on and it's been showing on the field," Levine said. "They're very positive, upbeat, even a little goofy, but it's been a lot of fun so far."

After averaging 18-points-per-game a season ago on offense, West has again implemented a college football-type approach to its offense — get the snap away as quick as possible to keep the defense on its heels.

The Wildcats want to be fast to the ball after every play, with a goal of getting the snap off four-to-five seconds after the ball is set.

"The fast pace is a huge advantage for us, no other team in the (Valley Football Association), at least that we play plays that up-tempo offense like we do so it kind of gives us an advantage," senior wide receiver and safety Connor Arneson said. "And whenever you play in a tough conference like we do any little advantage you can get is really going to help."

Michael Lor will return as the feature running back, and the Wildcats run 12-deep at the receiver position. It's the deepest and most talented position on the team, and led by Arneson, Billy Courchene, Josh Boyce and Konnor Zuehl, the receivers will be the rotating play-callers in West's up-tempo attack.

Replacing the leader

One position the Wildcats do need to fill is quarterback.

Gone is Sam Olejnik after accounting for more than 1,600 total yards a season ago. Olejnik was also a keystone on defense, anchoring the linebacker group as well.

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Oshkosh West's Connor Arneson and Taylor Steeno talk about playing faster on offense this season
Jake Van Camp/Oshkosh Northwestern Media

West isn't going to replace a kid of Olejnik's caliber with just one player, but thanks to its depth, it doesn't have to.

"We asked a lot of Sam last year, and we'll replace him with multiple guys," Levine said. "No one person is going to do all that (Sam did) I hope, and if they do we're in trouble because that means we'll have a lot of guys going both ways again and we're trying to get away from that."

Junior Alex Lowney will take the reign on the quarterback position in his first year on varsity. Lowney is more of a conventional drop-back quarterback, and has run a similar up-tempo style of offense the past five years dating back to his middle school days with the Flyers.

He has a solid grasp of what the coaching staff wants out of him this season, and the rest of the team has seen the work Lowney's put in this offseason and expect the transition will be a smooth one.

"It really helps that he's really gung-ho about trying to learn the offense and he's really put in a lot of work in the offseason," center and linebacker Taylor Steeno said. "Even now he's putting a lot of work into it, so I don't think the team is worried about it, they just expect him to make the transition."

Rotating like clockwork

The Wildcats are also making a change up front defensively after giving up 34-points-per-game and 187 rushing yards-per-game a season ago

West has depth on the front line, and will be using an eight-man rotation on the defensive line to keep guys fresh. That should allow for the group of linebackers and defensive backs to roam and be more impactful.

"Last year I played almost 100 percent of the time (on defense)," offensive and defensive lineman Jacob Heath said. "This year we have to be fresh, and with that type of rotation we're never going to be tired on defense and that will really help.

"With the linemen being fresh, that should help the linebackers be more free to make plays because we'll be able to do our jobs better."

If the offense can stay on the field longer, that will help the defense's ability to stop the run as well. Last year, West averaged just 240 total yards per game.

"I think our offense had a lot to do with that," Levin said regarding the defensive struggles from a season ago. "If we control the ball more this year, then the other teams offense isn't on the field as much.

"Anything can happen with injuries, but we should have more bodies to focus just on defense and stay fresher."

West hasn't made the playoffs since 2010, and have just eight wins in the past three seasons. But with a veteran team that has deeper talent and chemistry, an increase in wins could be on the horizon.

"The kids are pretty fired up about this season," Levine said. "The team chemistry, the leadership and the character of our kids are going to be our strengths, and I think that's something maybe we've been missing the last few years."

Jake Van Camp: (920) 426-6661 or jvancamp@thenorthwestern.com

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Steve Clark takes a look at the first week of high school football games around the area on the latest edition of ON Sports.